From NJ.com: N.J. real estate listings down slightly. See full list. The number of newly listed homes in New Jersey dropped by less than 1% in June compared to the same time last year, according to Realtor.com. In June, 9,256 listings ..read more

From CNN: Harris seeks to rally Democrats after Biden drops out of race Harris begins 2024 bid: Vice President Kamala Harris is marching to the Democratic nomination as broad swaths of the party — including potential rivals, lawmakers, governors, influential labor and advocacy groups and more — line up behind her bid to take on Donald Trump. Gaining support: No serious challenger has emerged yet after President Joe Biden announced his exit from the race. And the party’s best-known governors, several of whom had been seen as potential challenge ..read more

From NJ.com: The property tax overhaul New Jersey’s property tax breaks, including the popular Senior Freeze and ANCHOR benefits, could soon undergo dramatic changes as the state tries to keep its promise to further cut taxes for senior citizens under the Stay NJ law, according to recommendations released Thursday. The long-awaited 101-page report comes from the Stay NJ Task Force,which was charged with figuring out how to implement the complicated and much-debated law in time for the 2026 deadline for when payments are scheduled to start ..read more

From Fox Business: Real estate tycoon explains when house prices will start to drop and ‘open the floodgates’ Over the next year, two macroeconomic indicators may align and create booming opportunities in real estate, according to RE/MAX’s chairman and co-founder. “I estimate that there’s between 9 and 11 million people who want to be homeowners that can’t afford to be homeowners right now,” Dave Liniger said on “The Claman Countdown,” Monday, “because of the cost of the interest rate, or because they already got a house with a very low interest rate that wouldn’t transfer to the new purchase ..read more

From NorthJersey.com: Real estate update: Nearly half of NJ counties saw housing inventory increase in June June marked the eighth consecutive month of housing inventory growth across the nation, with 36.7% more homes actively for sale than this time last year. The Northeast, however, is bridging the inventory gap at a much slower pace than other regions of the country, according to Realtor.com. While inventory grew 48.9% in the South, 35.8% in the West and 21.5% in the Midwest, the Northeast saw inventory increase by just 12.5%. Despite this inventory gap, the New York metropolitan ..read more

From CNBC: The pool party’s over as Americans ease up on backyard upgrades Americans will be splashing around this summer in the backyard pools they’ve already got, but not splashing out as much on new ones.  Swimming pool installations were part of the home improvement frenzy that swept the country during the pandemic as Americans were stuck at home. But recent signs show demand is slowing as households with spending money shift it more toward vacations than renovations. Pool Corp., a national pool equipment distributor with a roughly $11 billion market valuation, said last wee ..read more

From NorthJersey.com: Derek Jeter’s Greenwood Lake ‘castle’ sold for a third of original asking price Former Yankees captain Derek Jeter has sold his home on Greenwood Lake. The $5.1 million sale closed on Wednesday, less than two months after hitting the market for a list price of $6.3 million, listing agent Diane Mitchell of Wright Bros Real Estate Inc. confirmed. The 24-room estate at 14 Lake Shore Road had previously been listed for nearly $15 million. The property just north of the New Jersey state line was originally built up in 1903 by New York City doctor Rudolph Gudewill as a get ..read more

Some great charts over at Visual Capitalist: Mapped: The Growth in U.S. House Prices by State in 2024 In 2024, U.S. home prices are steadily rising across nearly every state in America. Overall, home prices rose 6.6% annually as of the first quarter of 2024, the highest increase since 2022. A combination of low inventory and homeowners’ reluctance to sell is driving up home values as interest rates remain persistently high. … Vermont leads in growth, with home prices climbing by 12.8% as home inventory dropped to its lowest point in over a decade. Next in line are Northeastern ..read more

From The Atlantic: Why Dining Rooms Are Disappearing From American Homes The dining room is the closest thing the American home has to an appendix—a dispensable feature that served some more important function at an earlier stage of architectural evolution. Many of them sit gathering dust, patiently awaiting the next “dinner holiday” on Easter or Thanksgiving. That’s why the classic, walled-off dining room is getting harder to find in new single-family houses. It won’t be missed by many. Americans now tend to eat in spaces that double as kitchens or living rooms—a small price to pay for making ..read more

From Yahoo Finance: Mortgage rates decline for 4th straight week The national average on the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage inched down to 6.86% from 6.87% a week prior, according to Freddie Mac’s report published on Thursday. Rates have declined for four consecutive weeks and are at the lowest since April. The housing market has been sluggish — many home sellers have stayed put to keep their favorable mortgage rates, while buyers facing affordability challenges retreated from the market. However, both inventory and affordability could ease up as rates are projected to decline for the remainder ..read more